To Learn the Truth
by Marlene Kimaru
Summary: Mirai Trunks is back and going to school with Gohan. What’s this? Dende got a letter from the Supreme Kai telling him that all of Gohan’s secrets have to be told to the world? Will the green god survive? And will Trunks do since he's in Gohan's sh
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Figure it out, genius!  
  
~To Learn the Truth~  
  
Prologue ~Starting Over, Moving On~   
  
Gohan cried. He was tired of crying. He had been crying for days. He blamed himself and no matter how hard he tried to hide it, everyone probably knew. The pain was unbearable. His eyes were red from the tears and he could barely continue. He felt a familiar ki approaching and so he dried his eyes and tried to look presentable. Krillan would need to see that. He also felt another ki approaching rapidly. Vegeta was coming too. Now this just confused the boy. Why was his father's greatest rival coming to visit him? He walked to his window to greet the two fellow warriors. They both landed in his room with serious and apologetic expressions on their faces.   
  
Krillan was the first to speak. "Gohan, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. It's my fault that your father is dead." This puzzled Gohan beyond anything. How could Krillan claim responsibility for this? It was his fault, not Krillan's! Before he could voice any of this, Krillan continued. "I had the remote in my hands, I could have destroyed her, but instead I let her go. And it's my fault that Cell gained his perfect form. It's my fault that Goku died. I'm sorry."   
  
Gohan felt tears in his eyes. 'No!' He thought. 'No, it's not your fault! It's mine! I toyed with Cell, and Dad died.' But he couldn't say any of this; the effort to restrain tears was too great.   
  
Vegeta snorted. "Yes, Krillan, it was your fault." Both looked at him in shock. "But it was also mine. I don't think you understood what I said when Cell was about to destroy us. I allowed my Saiya-jin instincts for battle blind my mind and Cell got his chance to gain his stupid perfect form." Vegeta was grimacing in disgust at his admission, and the other two continued to look at him in shock. Gohan remembered what he had said and understood. He had said sorry, and now he truly understood the truth of why.   
  
Gohan allowed his tears to begin to fall. His smile lit up the room. He felt a rush of joy and acceptance, and for the first time since then, total freedom. He was free from the guilt. It wasn't his fault! For the first time he understood what his mother and Piccolo had been trying to help him. He laughed. "No! It's not our fault! We had no way of knowing the consequences of our actions and what we did seemed right at the time! Krillan! You like her! I can't blame you for feeling! Vegeta, I can't blame you for what you are, and if I can't blame you, then I can't blame me either! Don't you get it you guys?! It's not our fault!" By this time, the boy's excitement was becoming contagious.   
  
Krillan was grinning with tears running down his face, and Vegeta's expression was rather soft. 'Good, now the boy will no longer be afraid to fight. I need to get as strong as he is. Now it's time.' "Of course, boy, I expect to see you at Capsule Corp. at least once a week so that I can make sure that you maintain your pride as a Saiya-jin warrior." Translation: spar with me so that I can get stronger and eventually kick your but!   
  
Gohan smirked a Saiya-jin battle smirk. "Of course, Vegeta! I'll make sure Mom will let me." A softer _expression invaded his features. "I have an idea as to how..."   
  
~*~   
  
Gohan walked into the kitchen to see if breakfast was ready. His mother and Piccolo looked at him with a worried expression. "It's not your fault dear, now eat." His mother said, hoping that her son would see the truth of it, tears in her eyes from watching him and knowing that he blamed himself for his Dad's death.   
  
But to her pleasant surprise, Gohan smiled. "I know mother. I understand now. We are what we are, and we do what we do. I am the son of the great Goku, and he has left me with his job." By this time, there were tears gathering in his eyes. "I must train and protect the Earth in his name, and in his place. I am his heir as hero of Earth, Mother, and that is a task I cannot take lightly. I will still spend much of my time studying, not just because you want me to, but because I enjoy doing so. Mother, I know you disapprove, but I also need to train. Perhaps not most of the day, but at the very least, daily. I cannot deny my heritage, and I cannot deny the trust my father put in me." By this time, his voice broke with tears, but yet at the same time gained strength. "I am Gohan! Son of the great Goku! I will be a scholar and the great new protector of this planet! I will not deny my father's memory! I will be all the good that he was! And even if I fail, I will still try, just like he always did." By this time, Chi Chi was in tears and Piccolo looked touched too.   
  
This perfect moment was disturbed by a hungry half Saiya-jin stomach's growling. Gohan grinned and scratched the back of his head in perfect resemblance of his father, and asked, again, in perfect resemblance, "So, ummm.... What's for breakfast?"   
  
~*~   
  
They were at the store when Gohan saw it. A memory. Something that reminded him of his father. A... piece of meat? Gohan picked it up, and with tears in his eyes, asked his mother, "Mom? Can we get this?"   
  
Chi Chi looked at her son questioningly. "Why of course dear! But, what ever for? Why that?" His tears were making her nervous. She was sure it had to do with Goku, and was rather sorry that she had to ask.   
  
But Gohan's smile and words reassured her. "While we were in the hyperbolic time chamber, Dad asked me to cook one of these. I ended up incinerating it and catching his hair on fire. I was a lousy cook!" Laughter was mixed with his tears at this point.   
  
Instead of smiling and nodding though, Chi Chi got mad. "WHAT?!?! My baby's not good at something?!?! No! You will learn to cook and you will learn to do it well. Got it mister?!" She held her frying pan up threateningly.   
  
Gohan laughed, while nodding vigorously so as to not anger his mother further. "Of course Mother! Just as long as I have my first lesson on these and my final test on these too. I want his memory to live on in everything I do. Including cooking!"   
  
Chi Chi seemed shocked, but then smiled softly and nodded in response. She turned away before he could see the tears in her own eyes.   
  
~*~   
  
They sat in the car on the way home. Piccolo had remained in the car while they were in the store. Since Goku was not around, Piccolo had decided to remain with the family during their time of need. His student was going through a great deal of hardship, but yet, he seemed to be bouncing back the fastest of them all. Perhaps it was his father in him.   
  
Chi Chi sat in the passenger's side and began to change the station on the radio. Normally, Piccolo would protest, but he didn't dare recently. The channel came to a classical station with a variety of instruments playing. Not quite an orchestra, but close. "That's another thing Gohan! Here's another thing you can do! What instrument would you like to play?" Notice she didn't give him the option of even disagreeing this time.   
  
Gohan seemed to consider this deeply, as if the question held great meaning, and the answer would be very important. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke. "A piccolo."   
  
"WHAT?!" Piccolo shouted in shock as he turned from his normal leaf green to a sickly olive green.   
  
Gohan smiled and laughed lightly. "It's a woodwind instrument that's a lot like a flute. It's about this big." He held the distance between his fingers.   
  
"Oh, of course." Piccolo still looked a bit disturbed, but it was mixed with relief and his color had returned to normal. They made the rest of the five hour trip in silence and Gohan fell asleep in the back.   
  
~*~   
  
It was two weeks since the Cell games, and Gohan was recovering the fastest. He was back to his old self, but still saddened noticeably when ever someone mentioned Goku. But the pride would quickly replace the sadness, and then everyone would leave the subject as is. Gohan's training and studies were coming along great. He was currently studying Trigonometry, studying two new languages, Namekian, and Sayingo, and was also intent on making a product that would run Capsule Corporation out of business. He already had a great idea, it just needed testing and producing, and... Ok, ok! It needed everything! He just had the idea!   
  
Gohan decided that it was now time to visit a new friend he had made just a few weeks before. He smiled as he turned super and flew through the air and made his way to a village that he had been to just a few weeks earlier. He landed at a shop when he arrived in town and smiling went up to the door. He looked in shock and saw a sign that said 'Closed' on it. He turned around and found the nearest person and asked them the obvious question. "Excuse me, but why is this shop closed? And do you know where can I find the owners? I need to see them."   
  
The old lady that he had chosen to speak to smiled kindly at him and said, "I'm sorry, but the girl, Lime, she got into an accident and hit her head. She ended up with amnesia. They moved to the city without any notice. Nobody here knows the address or has any way of getting hold of them. I can take your phone number for them to call if they ever do come back to town! It's the least I could do seeing as how you saved the world and all. I'm just sorry that that annoying man took all your credit."   
  
Gohan blushed slightly at those last two comments. "It's really ok that he took the credit anyways ma'am. I don't want it. I just want to live in peace with my family. Especially after my dad died." His eyes grew distant for a moment, but then went back to normal as he continued his conversation with the woman. "Could you please let everyone know that I don't want the credit and to just let Hercule live his lie? It's actually kinda funny to watch him make a fool of himself! And here's my phone number," he said, handing her a piece of paper. He waved and flew off with a slightly heavy heart. 'I couldn't protect her. It's my fault.' He shook his head. 'No, it's not. There's no way that I could be here all the time for her. Just as long as she has a good life it's fine with me.'   
  
~*~   
  
Gohan panicked. A strong ki was with his mother and he didn't recognize it! He dashed downstairs to find his mother cooking at the stove. He looked frantically around the room and when his mother noticed him, she realistically, became worried. "Gohan? Sweetie?" There was fear in her voice. "What's the matter? Are you going to fight again?" There were tears building in here eyes.   
  
Gohan looked at his mother strangely. He walked over to just in front of her and looked at her stomach. Tears began to gather in his eyes when he realized what was going on. "It seems that he left us a parting gift to cope with his death, Mom. You're pregnant." Chi Chi looked at her son in shock. It took all of her self control not to faint. Her son looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "It feels just like him mom. It's just the same." At this point the boy collapsed into her arms, sobbing.   
  
~*~   
  
A/N: Ok, that's just the setup stuff. Everyone has Gohan blame himself and it takes drastic measures from either Lime of Videl to make him get over it. I decided that I wanted all of his self-blame out of the way before he went to high school. I had a friend tell me that Gohan was speaking to properly. I beg to differ. He's like his father in more ways than one. He's a clueless five year old that can turn into a deadly fighter and can give a deeply inspired speech, but only when deeply inspired. His speeches will also be better than anything his father ever said to encourage the Z- Fighters because he has more intellectual training at his disposal. He's going to talk normally most of the time, but he's perfectly capable of getting up and speaking. Especially when he believes what he's saying. Then he'll use his full vocabulary to tell what he has to say.   
  
I would also like to thank my wonderful beta-reader Andromeda of the Moon! She's absolutely wonderful! Go read her story NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
I would appreciate a review or two.... 


	2. Author's note

Hello everyone. Sorry this isn't an actual chapter, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to have a computer for who knows how long. I'll be using the one at the library. About this story. It's actually half serious. Don't worry, there's plenty of Gohan torture and I'll even be torturing someone else too!!!!! I'll even torture Dende!!!!! MWAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! *ahem* Right. Again, I'm sorry for not getting it out in time, but it will be soon! I'm nearly done with it, and as soon as I finish writing it I'll go to the library and finish typing it. I'm rambling, but I think you'll like where this ends up! 


	3. Gohan's first day

Disclaimer: Don't TELL me you forgot already!!!!?  
  
Chapter 1 ~Gohan's first day!~  
  
Gohan was excited. He'd never been around so many kids his own age before! He wondered what it would be like. 'I hope they don't hate me. I also hope they are nice. I wonder what they would like to do. What does everyone there do for fun? Aw, man! I have to wait! I don't think I can! Two more days, two more days, two...' His thoughts continued like this for quite some time, actually two days, as he prepared for school. His mother had enrolled him in a large variety of courses, as if to show off all of his abilities. He was slightly reluctant about this, seeing as how he would no longer have as much time to work on his secret project, but oh well.  
  
His training was coming along ok. Not too great. He felt he had reached a new barrier to his training because he was advancing so slowly. His base level had increased greatly, and so had each of his super levels. But he still felt there was a limit on how much he could do. He had a feeling that the base level could only reach a certain point at all before one went super. But he theorized that once one went super, then they would be able to push his base level higher as he gained more power in super Saiya-jin form that would be impossible to reach without achieving that form, even if it wasn't in use, it would still give you the potential for the added strength without going super. But he had gained SSJ2 and so his base was capable of more than any regular Super Saiya-jin. They would have to achieve SSJ2 to keep up in a fight without either party going super. But he found that to be ok, seeing as how he could still beat Vegeta to a pulp any day with little, to no effort. His training also wasn't as motivated as the Saiya-jin prince's efforts were, so he had a feeling that he would someday catch up to him.  
  
The two days passed surprisingly rapidly, mainly because his mother told him he could do whatever he wanted until 9:00 Sunday night, at which point he would have to be in bed. During the two days he worked diligently on his 'secret project.' He had every intention of starting a company that would at the very least give Bulma a run for her money. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to do the next thing he wanted to do, so he was thinking of just going ahead and getting started with it as a company. Besides, every product needs eventual upgrades. What was it you ask? It's a secret until its completion. Nobody knew what he did in his lab, and everyone wanted to. They all knew that ki blasts wouldn't work, because it would blow up half the stuff inside, and he had 29 security measures built in, including hand print, voice recognition, retina scans, and a variety of other things, so the front door was defiantly out of the question. He had received this capsule lab from Bulma on his 13th birthday, and Vegeta had given him one of his capsule gravity chambers. He used both on a regular basis.  
  
Before he knew it, it was Monday morning. He shoved food down his throat faster than normal, and he couldn't stop grinning and bouncing off the walls. Goten was hiding in his bedroom because his big brother had never acted so scary before! He was acting like everything good was happening. Like just getting the world's supply of food promised him, getting all the candy in the world, (he's a kid; candy and food are two separate categories,) getting promised a little brother, well, Gohan already had one, but Goten wanted one too! Let's just say that Goten was convinced that this 'High School' was the best place on earth. He had spoken with his mother and she had agreed to let him go there for one day in just a few weeks. He had learned just as much as Gohan had because it looked fun! Gohan said it was fun, and all that time he spent in his lab looked fun, and he had once let him in his lab and it was soooo cool! Goten! How did you get a hold of the author's keyboard?! Give that back! Ahem, anyways. Back to Gohan!  
  
After finishing breakfast and grabbing all of his stuff for the day, he called Nimbus and hopped on! He flew to school with increasing nervousness. What if they didn't like him? The ten-minute trip was almost too much to bear!  
  
Just as he was approaching the school, he heard the sounds of shooting. His Saiya-jin instincts took this moment to pop in and say 'Hi,' and leave his Human side wondering 'On what?' He went super and took care of the weaklings in the showiest fashion possible. He appeared out of nowhere in front of the first crook, swiped the weapon directly from his hand and knocked him out in a mere moment. The criminals looked at him in shock. "I suggest you surrender now. You have five seconds. 5,"  
  
The one who appeared to be the boss started shouting, "Shoot him! He's just a silly teenager with gold hair! Shoot him!"  
  
They began to shoot. "4," Gohan caught all the bullets and threw them back at the crooks feet making them jump to avoid them and putting holes in the pavement as they hit. "3,"  
  
At this point the criminals began to run around like chickens with their heads cut off. "In the car! Get in the car you idiots!" They did just that.  
  
"2," Gohan stood there watching them as the police shouted at him to take care of them before they got away. The crooks started to drive off. "1," They made it to the end of the street and were just about to round the corner when, "0." Gohan raised his hand, pointed at one of their tires and a gold beam melted it. All the crooks got out in a panic and before they could do anything else, Gohan disappeared.  
  
He appeared a moment later in front of the boss. One second later, all of the other crooks fell down. Gohan stared at the boss with piercing teal eyes and the patented Saiya-jin battle smirk making the crook shiver. He turned to the fallen criminals with a thoughtful look on his face and placed his hand on his chin. The boss took this opportunity to fire his gun, which seemed to run into a shield. "Good help is so hard to find! Look at them! They're sleeping on the job! Oh, well. I guess you might as well join them!" And so, faster than the normal human eye could see, the boss was down for the count.  
  
He dashed away faster than anyone could see, and dropped back to normal. He walked over to the crowd to survey his work. He grinned, that was fun!!! He was about to walk away from the scene when a girl with twin black pigtails stopped him. "Hey, you!"  
  
Gohan looked at her nervously, and glanced at the girl beside her. She wore twin auburn braids and they both wore identical death glares. "Ummm... me?" He said with no more than a squeak.  
  
The braided girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you! Do you know who did this?"  
  
Gohan blinked. He relaxed slightly. For a moment there, he thought they had seen him. "Uhhh... No I don't... Sorry I can't help you!" With that he dashed off.  
  
"Oh, Hi Videl, Lime! Did you see that? It was amazing! That Golden Fighter was really something, wasn't he?"  
  
"Golden fighter? Explain!" Videl demanded in a no nonsense type tone.  
  
"Well, he had gold hair that was really spiky. The air around him seemed like it was charged with electricity. He was wearing a white shirt, a black vest, orange pants, and he goes to your school! He had a OHS badge pinned to his vest. It was amazing what he did. He disappeared and then all of the crooks were unconscious! He melted their tires just by pointing at them! I wonder if we'll see more of him..." The two girls looked at each other. If he went to their school, then they would find him, corner him, and pound him for answers. They nodded to each other and then took off for school in their jets.  
  
~*~  
  
He finally arrived at school, and surprisingly, he was on time. Unfortunately, his 'wonderful' sense of direction was not awake today. He couldn't find the office. It took him five minutes to do so, and by this time, class had started. Great. He was going to get embarrassed when the teacher told him to introduce himself and everything. He got his schedule and made his way to his homeroom. 'I hope they like me,' were his final thoughts before nervously knocking on the door.  
  
~*~  
  
Lime was bored. She was very bored. Now allow me to take this opportunity to say that she was bored. She looked to her right to see her friend, Videl in an identical position as herself. One hand propping up her head and looking, well, bored. She would try to strike up a conversation, but they had two empty seats between them where two jerks had sat before they got expelled. They had been placed there to keep them out of trouble, but it didn't work because they were always picking on the nerds and geeks. She sighed and turned back to stare at the teacher. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The whole class, who seemed to have been in similar positions of boredom, sat up and looked at the door as if it was the most interesting thing on the planet.  
  
The teacher looked at the door with envy. He sure did wish that he had that effect on his students. He walked over to the door and opened it. There was a very nervous and polite 17 year old. 'Wait a second, back up! Polite!? Impossible!! He's just trying to get under my skin. Wait, 439 mountain area? Maybe not... Nonetheless, I never knew such a thing existed! Polite! Wait until I tell my peers about this!' Needless to say, the teacher was very excited. "Class! This is Son Gohan! He's made perfect scores on his entrance exam and I'm sure that you will either be at least slightly intelligent and learn from his example, or be one of the stupidest people on earth and ignore him completely. It's up to you!" The teacher had learned that you must entice your students into doing what you want them to do. "Now, Mr. Son, please tell us about yourself!"  
  
Gohan gulped and looked back at the man nervously, but he just grinned, oblivious, and oddly enough, he seemed to be daydreaming... Oh, well. Not that he could do anything about it. "H-hi! I'm Son Gohan. I live in the mountains and like things like spending time in my lab and studying, my Mom wants me to be a scholar, and I like a large variety of other things too." He looked back at the teacher who nodded happily and pointed out an empty seat for him to sit in. Actually there were two right next to each other. One seat was next to a girl with two black pigtails and the other next to a girl with twin auburn braids. He gulped. Those were the same girls from earlier. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'The one with the black hair looks nice enough.'  
  
He sat next to the girl and smiled politely. She scowled. 'Great, another one of my father's fans.' She was about to tell him to buzz off when he spoke. "Hi! I'm sure you already heard, but my name's Son Gohan! What's yours?"  
  
She stared at him like he was crazy. "You mean you don't know who I am?" He shook his head. "Then why did you sit by me? It's Satan Videl, by the way."  
  
He smiled at her and replied, "This seat was closer. And should I know you? If you're on TV, I don't have any time to watch it. It gets turned on about once a month at most, and that's more than likely by my Mom or little brother."  
  
She smiled back at him, his grin was contagious. "I'm Hercule's daughter. I fight crime in the city."  
  
His eyes widened to about the size of plates. She expected him to say, 'Oh, wow you're Hercule's daughter?!?!' What he really said though, was a pleasant surprise. "Oh, wow! You fight crime?! That's impressive! It's also dangerous! You must be really good! Maybe even better than your dad!!! You must be great!"  
  
She was deeply flattered. This guy was impressed by her capabilities, and not her father's! He even thought that she was better than her dad! She grinned at him with a slight blush on her face. "Thanks! But no, I'm not as good as my dad." She looked down.  
  
He grinned at her. "You've still got to be great!" He was about to say more but he was interrupted by a boy with blond hair to the right of Videl.  
  
"Hey nerd boy! Get your own girl to flatter! This one's mine! By the way, my name's Sharpner." Gohan blinked looking very much like his classic clueless five year old self again. He glanced at Videl, who was glaring at Sharpner.  
  
Before he could say anything, the girl with twin auburn braids spoke up. "Don't listen to him. He's always like that. My name is Lime, and the empty seat to my left usually has a blond girl named Erasa in it. She's a bit flirty, so be thankful that she's sick today or else you would be in trouble."  
  
Gohan's mouth was gaping slightly. "Lime? Did you just say Lime? As in Mango Lime?"  
  
Lime's eyes widened slightly. "Yeah, do you know me?" She looked hopeful. She had amnesia and still hadn't recovered any of her memory from before.  
  
He looked at her with slight regret in his eyes. "Yeah, I knew you. We met, once, shortly before the Cell games and when I came back to visit you and your grandfather a couple of weeks later... An old woman told me you had moved to the city and had amnesia, I kept in contact with her and looked through phone books, but I couldn't find you. I'm sorry, I didn't know you very well, but I did know you just well enough to consider you a friend. That's why I looked for you so hard!"  
  
Lime looked at him sadly. "Well, I see. We could start over then?" Gohan grinned and nodded. He then happily turned to the teacher who was lecturing, and began cheerfully taking notes.  
  
~*~  
  
The day proceeded just fine, except for Videl asking him if he was the golden fighter and Mrs. Pluto getting into an in depth conversation with him in his Hebrew class, which scared all the students. And then there was the time when Mr. Venus asked them to paint a still life painting. The entire class was impressed by the professional quality of the painting. In music class, his ease with compound time signatures wowed the entire class, and during world history, well, that was just boring. He already knew that. And then there was that whole baseball incident in PE. He was fresh out of ideas for what to do to get out of this. He went to Capsule Corporation to speak with Bulma and she had given him this really cool watch that allowed him to transform into whom he liked to call, The Great Saiyaman!!!!! He was grinning. He couldn't have had a better first day! Except for the glaring. That he could do without. Those two girls reminded him of his mom and Bulma. He suppressed a shudder. He got home, did his homework, ate supper, spent time in his lab, went to the gravity room and trained Goten for a while, and went to bed. This day was great! He couldn't wait for tomorrow!  
  
~*~  
  
Well, what have we here? I UPDATED?!?!?!?!?!?!?! IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?!?!?!?! It is and I have! I will be updating again fairly soon because I was going to post this and the next chapter together, but I felt as if it would be better to get you something now, rather than later. You'll get more soon!! Later!! 


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